The Tudor Age

From Henry Tudor to Elizabeth, the Tudors bestride British history like no other royal dynasty. Written by one of the period’s most gifted chroniclers, The Tudor Age has been hailed as the most authoritative and masterly account of their 118-year reign. Susan Brigden looks afresh at the familiar story of kings and queens, courtly intrigue and plot, foregrounding the religious turmoil of the English Reformation that ‘shattered a world of shared belief’. She brings to life an age of old enmities and new horizons – of warring Irish chieftains and the Spanish Armada, the imaginative achievements of More, Marlowe and Shakespeare, and the lure of New World riches. There is much, too, about Tudor society, from marriage, childbirth and family life to the plight of paupers and fear of witchcraft. Wonderfully illustrated with fine portraiture, The Tudor Age is a gripping introduction to ‘the experience of those who lived in that time – of their certainties and uncertainties, hopes and terrors.’